I finally managed to take my drone out yesterday, first time since before the lockdown (other from the one time where I took of from my garden in the snow). It was a bad day weather wise, as the wind was showing 20mph and gusting to 38mph. But what with work and commitments, I don’t know when I’ll get another opportunity.
I walked along the Ridgeway, near Swindon, an ancient trackway described as Britain’s oldest road. I headed to Liddington Hill this time, which is not far from Barbury Castle where I flew in January. I hadn’t visited Liddington Castle before, a bronze age fortification from 7th century BC, located on the highest hill in the area. But what I didn’t know was that there is a WWII decoy bunker located 500m from it at Liddlington Clump.
In hindsight, it was too windy to fly, but the Mavic Air 2 did surprise me how well it handled itself, especially the image stabilisation whilst getting buffeted all over the place by the high winds.
Liddington Clump
Liddington Clump is the location of a ‘Starfish’ Decoy Control Bunker. This is the control bunker for a WWII ‘Starfish’ bombing decoy site. ‘SF’ - standing for ‘Special Fire’. This would have been used to control fires which would have acted as a decoy to enemy planes targeting the town of Swindon to the north. The bunker consisted of two rooms off a central passage. That on the right housed generators. The control room was on the left, with a hatch in the concrete roof.
Liddington Castle
Liddington Castle is a late Bronze Age and early Iron Age hill fort in the English county of Wiltshire. At 277 metres (909 ft), it is the highest point in the Borough of Swindon and covers an area of 3 ha. Liddington Castle was one of the earliest hill forts in Britain, with first occupation dating to the 7th century BC. It is suggested as a possible site of Mount Badon and the location of the late 5th century Battle of Mount Badon. An historic battle where the Celtic Britons, led by King Arthur, defeated the Anglo-Saxons.
